What is the performance difference between a 1050cfm 4150 carb and a Dominator 1050cfm, if any?

i have a Race Demon with the removeble sleeves. i had it maxed out as a 1050 but it drove around the pits like a pig. when i changed the venturie sleeves & made it into a 1025 cfm it behaved a lot better, only 0.040 more venturie effect but so much more signal for the carb to operate. i swapped a 1050 Holley HP & 4500 series manifold onto my combo & all i gained was 2mph. it also behaved like a pig again. i felt i could stage better with a 1025 4150 series carb than the Holley HP so i've gone back to the Race Demon. i recently tried a 1190 Race Demon Dominator & it did drive nicer in the pit it for some reason gained no e.t just 2mph. i'm sticking to my Demon, makes my competition think i'm up to something as they all run Dominators & i usually holeshoot the crap out of them.

2 mph is a ton of hp.

If the engine needs that much carb then the difference is usually 20-30 hp. The Dominator is just a much better carb than a 4150 when flowing a bunch of air.

From what I have seen and read is the 4500 Dominator will always make more hp up top on the bigger engines. But the 4150 can be real good on a street car and have better low end driveability. Ron

I won't know for sure until our next time out.
We have been running a 1050 Race Demon RS 4150 and switched to the new Gen III Ultra Dominator 1050. Same type match ported Indy intake.
I didn't get a clean pass with it yet but it did show the best 60 ft. time by a tiny margin and very slight MPH improvement on the first and only pass, but there were other issues with the pass and I expect it will do better.
Mark

I have a Pro Systems 1000cfm 4150 built like a Dominator with 50cc accel pumps and some other stuff...I have not had a Dominator to put up against it, but it is the best carb I have ever had on either my 484 Hemi or my 512 Wedge.

Clean idle and very hard launches. Top end is not bad as I am still tuning for max power. But 138mph so far...

I have an SV1 I am still working out the bugs on...Need an AFR meter on it yet...

Could the additional flow be attributed to the intake, seeing as how both style carbs are rated at the same flow number???

So, if it boils down to the carb, as everyone is suggesting, which, if any, would work best in a street/strip app? There seems to be so many different listings, that I'm pretty confused as to what to look for....

Larry I've had both on my car and for pure brutal wide open power the Dominator really screamed on my car. The 1050 Quickfuel 4150 carb I'm running now pulls almost as hard as the Dom but it drives much better like going to work or a car show.I think for your application you would need to spend some major time with a wide band to get a Dom to perform as well as an "off the shelf" 1050 Quickfuel will while cruising
When the weather breaks I can ship my carb if you want to try it out

Gus

Thanks for the offer Gus, I appreciate it. I've been running a 1050AN Quickfuel for several years and I'm real pleased with the results. I was just wondering if there would be any worthwhile gains buy going with a Dominator set up. Unless used parts are used, you are looking at over $1K for intake and carb. For that kind of money,I'd want a substantial gain.
The way I'm leaning now, based on the way I drive my car, I'll just keep what I got. Having a 10 second 3900 lb. street car is something to be proud of, at least in my eyes.

If your carb has a dual pattern base then you can upgrade to a 4500 intake and keep the same carb.

I don't remember your combination so I don't know what makes the most sense for your next step. Having your intake manifold ported might give you more power for example than a carb change. It just depends where the "choke point" in your combo is.

I'm surprised Mark Whitener (or anyone else) hasn't mentioned this: the "1050 CFM" air flow labels for a 4150 and a 4500 aren't really an apples to apples comparison. A Quick Fuel "1050" downleg booster 4150 has a 1.59" venturi and a 1.75" throttle diameter; a Holley "1050" 4500 has a 1.69" venturi and a 2.00" throttle.

Does anyone really think these two carbs really flow the same at the same test pressure? They don't, which IMO makes the booster response and air/fuel curve tunes for each style of carb a more applicable point of discussion, since it's not just about raw air flow.

Airflow is just the potential flow at a given depression, in reality unless the carb is a large restriction the amount of air an engine will draw between two carbs of different sizes will be minimal. What changes is a larger carb will use less energy to draw the air in, and if the rest of the engine is up for it it will not lose power as fast above peak HP. With the right gear and converter this is where a larger carb will benefit. The downside to a larger carb is the pressure difference between atmospheric above the carb and below the carb (engine vacuum at WOT) is lower, the will have a negative impact on distribution, usually at lower RPM's. Proper booster selection will improve that, And correct tuning of the idle/transition metering will make a Dominator run well on anything. Tuning the transition from idle to transition circuit to mains is a little more touchy because of the large throttle blades, but isn't too tough.

I've run a 2.400 throttle bore billet carb on a pump gas 540, starts and idles fine, and will go idle to wide open throttle with no issue. I got a small hesitation when I tried it on my 427 SBC, I think I could get it to survive with a little tuning. It wouldn't run as fast, but would perform correctly. On my 461 SB2 head engine I have run a 2.25 blade carb, it made 871 HP, and ran 7.56 @175 in an 1820 lb dragster. Most would say that would be too much carb for 461", but it's about being able to maintain a homogenous mix of air and fuel, and subsequently getting equal distribution to the cylinders. It's why a tunnel ram will make more power (or should), it will lower pumping losses and still maintain equal distribution.

Where a large carb will hurt is when manifold design is poor, and distribution between cylinders is not equal. You then need to run a smaller carb to raise the pressure difference or manifold vacuum, higher vacuum will atomize and vaporize more fuel. There are areas you can improve this, making sure transitions from the carb pad into the intake are more line of sight to the runners. Typically the front and rear are the ones to suffer, especially on lower profile intakes. You can also add texture to the plenum and runners, this minimizes fuel from sticking to the surface. You can work with the engine temps, heat will improve vaporization, but you have to be careful as this does hurt the air density coming thru the engine. Another area is the type of fuel used. For any of those running C16 unless you are running a turbo or blower you are costing yourself HP, finding fuels that have sufficient octane but have good vaporization properties is what you want to run. The RVP of a fuel is the easiest place to look, on a NA engine you want to avoid any fuel with a RVP less than 5, and look for one preferably 7 or above. VP C25, the Pro Stock spec fuel until this year has an RVP of 9.66. The new spec fuel for this year is Sunoco SR18, with a RVP of 6. VP C25 is 50% evaporated at around 160˚, SR18 only 10% in that area. This is why the Pro Stock teams are struggling with their tuneups this year...